The capabilities of telecommunications systems have expanded rapidly in the last ten years. One such capability is that of connecting more than two people, in more than two locations, via telephone, enabling the parties to have a conference call via their telephones. A conference call can now connect many people together on the same conference call. The ability has been developed for a large number of listeners to dial one of two telephone numbers in order that they may vote, so to speak, for a poll based on a question given over a broadcast show (television or radio). In the former situation, all of the parties are capable of talking at one time, thereby breaking down the communication as the other parties will not be able to understand either of the two parties when they are speaking at the same time, similar to two way radio, or VHF, communications. In the latter situation, the party calling to have their vote counted cannot ask a question at their request.
Many companies, whether large or small, are desirous of a method of communicating specific information to either a specific group, such as their sales representatives, customers, or to their employees. In order to have such a large conference a company may sometimes have to either hold the meeting outdoors or rent a sufficiently large auditorium. Another problem is the time lost by each employee going to or coming from the conference and, in the case of attendees traveling long distances, the attendant costs involved. There may be also information that the company wants to disseminate to the employees, however it is for the employees benefit, hence it is to be done on the employees' own time. In this same manner, educational programs can be offered without the need to bring all or any of the students to one place. These and other problems are addressed by the present invention.
Talk shows, whether television or radio, have become extremely popular. A format where members of the audience may telephone in and ask a question during the live portion of a show, especially radio, is quite popular. The present invention combines selected elements of a talk show format with selected elements of a conference call. This enables a program sponsor, whether it be a corporation or any other entity, to arrange for a live radio-style show to be tailored to the information they want to disseminate to a target group of listeners.
Another problem faced by program sponsors is finding out who is listening to their program. This is valuable information for defining the target group's particular characteristics. The present invention allows program sponsors to easily collect a significant amount of information about its listeners.
An example may be a company with a new product that wants to disseminate information regarding that product to its various sales reps, without having all of them come to a specific location or repeat the information over and over to each one of them. Each of the sales representatives would be given a telephone number (usually an 800 number) and a time to call. For security, a security check can be performed when answering the incoming call. One such method would include requesting the listener to enter a security number (personal identification number, or PIN). After proper identification is given, the listener would be connected directly to the live program.